UCLA LING 1 FINAL ASSESSMENT 2026
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
⩥language as a type of KNOWLEDGE. Answer: You have a finite set of
building blocks and rules.
You know how to use them.
This is unconscious knowledge.
You understand the inventory of sounds in your language: Phonetics.
You understand the sound patterns in your language, what sequences are
possible: Phonology.
⩥lexicon. Answer: your mental dictionary,
you know words that are not in any written dictionary, and may never be
⩥morphology. Answer: the "rules" that allow you construct words
⩥syntax. Answer: How to build good PHRASES and SENTENCES
⩥semantics. Answer: Meanings of words and how to use them
⩥Education?. Answer: Being a fully competent native speaker of a
language is independent of educational level.
,Being more (or less) educated does not make a person a "better" (or
"worse") native speaker.
⩥linguistic competence. Answer: What you know in your mind
What you can do
Systematic
⩥linguistic performance. Answer: What actually comes out of your
mouth
What you do do
Subject to physical limitations such as breath, fatigue, nerves, etc.
Slips of the Tongue are performance errors.
⩥Features of Language. Answer: 1. Arbitrariness: The relationship
between a word and its meaning is arbitrary. (This is why the sounds
used to name the same object vary across languages.)
2. Creativity: Speakers use a finite set of building blocks and rules to
create and understand an infinite set of novel sentences. (Sentences
cannot simply be memorized or learned by imitation.)
Creativity is a universal property of human language.
⩥Language Universals. Answer: -All languages have ways of forming
questions.
-All languages have means for negating an utterance.
,-All languages have means for indicating when an action takes place.
-All languages possess a set of discrete sounds (or gestures).
-All languages permit displacement—the ability the talk about things
other than the here and now.
-All languages exhibit stimulus-freedom, the ability to say anything at
all—including nothing—in any circumstances.
⩥descriptive grammar. Answer: linguist's description or model of the
mental grammar
What speaker's rules actually are
speaker's grammar
linguist's grammar
⩥prescriptive grammar. Answer: rules of grammar (often based on
Latin) used by teachers
What speaker's rules should be
⩥lateralization. Answer: language is "lateralized" to the left hemisphere
Without access to the left cerebral hemisphere, normal language
processing cannot occur.
⩥Dichotic Listening Tests. Answer: Different sounds are played in both
ears
Subject reports hearing only one
, Sound from right ear is almost always reported
Conclusion: at least auditory processing of language seems to be in the
left hemisphere
⩥Split Brain Patients. Answer: In severe cases of epilepsy, the corpus
callosum is sometimes severed
As a result, the two hemispheres can not share information
Linguistic responses are not possible if stimulus was presented to the
right hemisphere (left visual field).
⩥Wada Tests. Answer: One hemisphere of a patient's brain is
temporarily put to sleep.
Patient then asked to read words &/or numbers, identify objects, &
respond to questions.
Result? An inability to produce language when left side is anesthetized.
⩥aphasia. Answer: a disruption in language abilities (production and/or
comprehension) due to brain injury
⩥Tan's Brain. Answer: Patient named Louis Victor Lebourgne, but
nicknamed 'Tan'.
His utterances were limited to a single syllable, "tan", usually twice.
Couldn't produce language.
1861: Paul Broca examined Tan's Brain (post-mortem).
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
⩥language as a type of KNOWLEDGE. Answer: You have a finite set of
building blocks and rules.
You know how to use them.
This is unconscious knowledge.
You understand the inventory of sounds in your language: Phonetics.
You understand the sound patterns in your language, what sequences are
possible: Phonology.
⩥lexicon. Answer: your mental dictionary,
you know words that are not in any written dictionary, and may never be
⩥morphology. Answer: the "rules" that allow you construct words
⩥syntax. Answer: How to build good PHRASES and SENTENCES
⩥semantics. Answer: Meanings of words and how to use them
⩥Education?. Answer: Being a fully competent native speaker of a
language is independent of educational level.
,Being more (or less) educated does not make a person a "better" (or
"worse") native speaker.
⩥linguistic competence. Answer: What you know in your mind
What you can do
Systematic
⩥linguistic performance. Answer: What actually comes out of your
mouth
What you do do
Subject to physical limitations such as breath, fatigue, nerves, etc.
Slips of the Tongue are performance errors.
⩥Features of Language. Answer: 1. Arbitrariness: The relationship
between a word and its meaning is arbitrary. (This is why the sounds
used to name the same object vary across languages.)
2. Creativity: Speakers use a finite set of building blocks and rules to
create and understand an infinite set of novel sentences. (Sentences
cannot simply be memorized or learned by imitation.)
Creativity is a universal property of human language.
⩥Language Universals. Answer: -All languages have ways of forming
questions.
-All languages have means for negating an utterance.
,-All languages have means for indicating when an action takes place.
-All languages possess a set of discrete sounds (or gestures).
-All languages permit displacement—the ability the talk about things
other than the here and now.
-All languages exhibit stimulus-freedom, the ability to say anything at
all—including nothing—in any circumstances.
⩥descriptive grammar. Answer: linguist's description or model of the
mental grammar
What speaker's rules actually are
speaker's grammar
linguist's grammar
⩥prescriptive grammar. Answer: rules of grammar (often based on
Latin) used by teachers
What speaker's rules should be
⩥lateralization. Answer: language is "lateralized" to the left hemisphere
Without access to the left cerebral hemisphere, normal language
processing cannot occur.
⩥Dichotic Listening Tests. Answer: Different sounds are played in both
ears
Subject reports hearing only one
, Sound from right ear is almost always reported
Conclusion: at least auditory processing of language seems to be in the
left hemisphere
⩥Split Brain Patients. Answer: In severe cases of epilepsy, the corpus
callosum is sometimes severed
As a result, the two hemispheres can not share information
Linguistic responses are not possible if stimulus was presented to the
right hemisphere (left visual field).
⩥Wada Tests. Answer: One hemisphere of a patient's brain is
temporarily put to sleep.
Patient then asked to read words &/or numbers, identify objects, &
respond to questions.
Result? An inability to produce language when left side is anesthetized.
⩥aphasia. Answer: a disruption in language abilities (production and/or
comprehension) due to brain injury
⩥Tan's Brain. Answer: Patient named Louis Victor Lebourgne, but
nicknamed 'Tan'.
His utterances were limited to a single syllable, "tan", usually twice.
Couldn't produce language.
1861: Paul Broca examined Tan's Brain (post-mortem).
